Plainview boys, girls control 4A regional

Sunday

Apr 28, 2013 at 8:00 AM

By Spencer Whitespencer.white@ardmoreite.com

MADILL — When they need to perform the most, Plainview always seems to be at its best.

After a convincing win at the Lake Country Conference meet a week ago, the Indians returned to Madill and once again made a strong statement, qualifying in most of the events on Saturday at the 4A regional meet and taking team victories in both the boys and girls competitions.

In Plainview's quest to bring home state titles in its debut year of 4A, the Indians took a huge stride forward with the team's performance.

"We've done pretty good, I think we're doing fine," girls coach Jerry Naylor said. "The main thing with regionals is trying to make sure you get the right people qualified for the state meet and I think we've done alright."

Shannon Wilson earned a convincing win in the discus, outpacing Newcastle's Ashley Bryant by over 15 feet, and a second-place finish in the shot put, while the Indians got dominant relay performances, setting season records in both the 4x800- and 4x200-meter relays and qualifying times in the other two.

Alex Davis captured the top finish in the 3,200 at a 'leisurely' time of 11 minutes, 10.14 seconds, while teammate Jessica Woods took second at 12:09.5. Freshman Rebecca Wright qualified in the high jump.

Among Plainview's boys, Robert Torres earned qualifying times in both the 1,600 and 3,200, while McKenna Ray qualified in the 110 hurdles, the 330 hurdles and the pole vault. Austin Carrera qualified in both the long jump and high jump. The Indians also set a season record in the 4x800 relay.

It was enough to leave coach Cody Lawson happy with the progress his team has made over the course of the season and heading into the biggest weekend of the year.

"Right now I feel really good about where we're at," Lawson said. "There's a lot of good things ... to do what we want to do, we have to point wherever we can.

"Overall, we've run a lot of season bests and that's exactly what you want to do this time of the year."

Host Madill also had several qualifiers, including the 4x200 boys relay team, the 4x800 girls relay team, Miranda Nolen in the 3,200 and Shailene Burchett, who won the pole vault with a height of 10-0.

Among other area schools in 4A, Kaden Ridley qualified for Lone Grove in the discus throw with a second-place finish, while Katy Custer of Dickson finished fifth in the shot put and could potentially qualify for the state meet based on results from other regionals.